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Building Standards Customer Charter

PUTTING THE CUSTOMER FIRST

As with all Scottish Local Authority Building Standards verifiers, the Council adopts nationally set and locally applied standards of service.

THE NATIONAL CHARTER

Purpose of a National Customer Charter:

A National Customer Charter for Building Standards Verification provides information about the minimum standards of service that all local authority verifiers should meet. This gives customers the reassurance that a consistent, high quality service will be delivered no matter which local authority provides the service.

Our Aims:

To grant building warrants and accept completion certificates:

To secure the health, safety, welfare and convenience of persons in and about buildings and others who may be affected by buildings or matters connected with buildings;

Furthering the conservation of fuel and power, and;

Furthering the achievement of sustainable development.

Our vision/values:

To provide a professional and informative service to all our customers.

Our Commitments:

Nationally all local authority verifiers will:

Seek to reduce the average time it takes for customers to obtain a building warrant

Ensure continuous improvement around the quality of our assessments to ensure compliance

Meet and seek to exceed customer expectations

Carry out local customer satisfaction surveys

Address feedback obtained through a National Customer Satisfaction Survey to improve the customer experience

Provide accurate financial data that is evidence-based

Engage with our peers and stakeholders through a National Forum that will identify and embed service improvements at a national level

Develop and adhere to a Balanced Scorecard approach outlining our objectives and targets

Fully adhere to the commitments outlined in this Charter (including information regarding the escape route process for dissatisfied customers in relation to building warrant processing timescales.

Performance Outcome:

As part of the nationally agreed increased commitment to meeting customers' expectations we aim to provide you with a technical response, or issue the Building Warrant, as applicable, within 20 working days from receipt of your valid application. In some complex cases, applications for a Building Warrant will result in a customer agreement where an extended response period will be specifically agreed.

If your application is not through a customer agreement and should you not have received a technical response, or a Building Warrant, as applicable, within a trigger of 35 working days from receipt of your valid application then you have the right to request resolution to the matter. This may be done by contacting your local area office and you may also contact the Building Standards Division at buildingstandards@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

LOCAL COMMITTMENTS

We will try to help all our customers access the service they need or answer their query the first time they contact us. We aim to avoid unnecessary form filling, asking for information that has already been given or needlessly passing the query to colleagues or other organisations.

Purpose of the Local Charter:

Our local charter outlines information on the standards of service that we aim to provide.

Our Aims:

to provide good value, efficient and effective services to all our customers.

to ensure our premises and information are as accessible as possible.

to treat everyone fairly and with respect.

to be open, honest and accountable for our actions.

to consult and listen to customers.

to strive for continuous improvement in our services and processes.

If you contact us by telephone we will:

Answer your call promptly - within 20 seconds where possible.

Give you our name.

Be polite, friendly and professional.

Try to resolve your query there and then.

Help you fill in forms.

Return calls between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

If you contact us in person we will:

Have clear signs on Council buildings that deliver the Building Standards service.

Display our opening hours, 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

Make every effort to make our offices accessible to everyone.

Provide somewhere for you to discuss your query in private if you'd prefer.

Make sure our reception areas are clean and tidy.

Display up-to-date information in our reception areas.

Help you fill in forms.

Wear identification badges.

When we visit you our staff will:

Visit at a convenient date and time between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

Have identification badges.

Aim to keep to our appointment and if this is not possible or if there is a delay we will inform you as soon as practicable.

If you write, email or fax us we will:

Acknowledge your enquiry within 3 working days of receiving it.

Provide a full response to simple queries within 10 working days, or 20 working days for queries which require research. If we can't answer your query in these timescales we'll let you know why.

Use plain English in our reply and use a format or language which suits your needs.

Provide the name, telephone number and email address of the person dealing with your enquiry.

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Building Warrants and Completion Certificates

Building Standards will strive to provide the following standards of performance at all times, but please note that very large or complex projects may take longer. A more accurate estimate of the expected response times can be discussed with any member of staff at the time of enquiry or submission. We welcome Pre-Warrant discussions for complex submissions and we provide an Express Building Warrant Assessment Service for minor application.

We aim to:

Respond to applications for Building Warrants within 20 working days where possible.

Issue Building Warrants within 6 days of receiving all of the relevant information.

Respond to submission of a Completion Certificate within 3 days.

Issue a Completion Certificate acceptance within 3 days of being satisfied that the work complies with the warrant and building regulations.

Customer Satisfaction:

We aim to exceed the Council's Corporate target of 84% for customer satisfaction rating the Service as good or excellent.

Complaints:

We publish our complaints procedure on the web site and in leaflets available from our office reception areas.

We investigate complaints thoroughly and let you know the outcome.

If we are unable to resolve a complaint immediately we will acknowledge it within 3 working days.